vulnerability

VMware Photon OS: CVE-2023-29383

Severity
2
CVSS
(AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N)
Published
Apr 14, 2023
Added
Jan 20, 2025
Modified
Feb 9, 2026

Description

In Shadow 4.13, it is possible to inject control characters into fields provided to the SUID program chfn (change finger). Although it is not possible to exploit this directly (e.g., adding a new user fails because \n is in the block list), it is possible to misrepresent the /etc/passwd file when viewed. Use of \r manipulations and Unicode characters to work around blocking of the : character make it possible to give the impression that a new user has been added. In other words, an adversary may be able to convince a system administrator to take the system offline (an indirect, social-engineered denial of service) by demonstrating that "cat /etc/passwd" shows a rogue user account.

Solution

vmware-photon_os_update_tdnf
Title
NEW

Explore Exposure Command

Confidently identify and prioritize exposures from endpoint to cloud with full attack surface visibility and threat-aware risk context.